Asia

Asia

Pakistani PM stresses consensus in country on enhanced Russian ties

28 February 2013 21:52 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Thursday told the visiting Russian Senate Chairperson that there is a national consensus in the country on building strong relationship with the Russian Federation, APA reports.

A delegation of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation led by Ms. Valentina Matvienko, Chairperson of the Council, discussed bilateral relations with the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister said that there has been a visible expansion in the bilateral relations as well as economic cooperation between the two countries and Pakistan greatly values Russia's interest to invest in the energy sector of Pakistan.

He said that there is vast potential for further increasing the bilateral trade, adding Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with Russia, a statement from the PM office said.

The two countries had been bitter foes during the cold war era and Pakistan was in the forefront of the anti-Soviet resistance for ten years.

"Both the countries have initiated a process of building a broad-based long term partnership. We greatly value the support and assistance of Russian Federation in the war against terrorism, "said the Prime Minister.

"Russia is a source of peace and stability at both regional and global level and its growing power is a positive development for a multi-polar world of today," he added.

Ms. Valentina Matvienko thanked the Prime Minister for meeting the delegation and said that Pakistan is an important partner of Russia and plays an important role in international relations.

She added that the exchange of visits of the parliamentary delegations of both countries will help in further strengthening the bilateral relations. She said that some 2000 Pakistani students have graduated from Russian universities and Russia would welcome more students from Pakistan.

The chairperson of the Council conveyed the best wishes of Russian President Putin to the Prime Minister.